Cultural co-operation between Europe
and the south Mediterranean countries

1. The Parliamentary Assembly recalls its
Resolution 1313
(2003) on cultural co-operation between Europe and the countries of
the south Mediterranean.

2. It recommends that the Committee of
Ministers consider such co-operation as one of the Organisations
priorities, and as far as possible involve the countries of the south
Mediterranean in the work of the Council of Europe, and in particular:

i. organise campaigns on religious
tolerance and understanding;

ii. provide the southern countries with
expert assistance, programmes and material to combat illiteracy and
develop co-operation in the fields of school textbooks, diplomas,
vocational training, language learning and the use of audiovisual
learning methods;

iii. promote and organise an approach
to the interpretation of history with historians from both sides,
bringing together shared elements to write a history of the
Mediterranean in order to ensure that history textbooks express an
inclusive rather than exclusive vision of the past, and, in this
context, study the advisability of setting up a Mediterranean
history-teaching observatory;

iv. re-examine the idea of setting up a
geographically decentralised Euro-Arab university which would have
faculties in the South and the North, but would be unified by means of a
virtual campus providing all the advantages of networked universities;

v. develop joint projects in the fields
of archaeology and protection of the architectural heritage;

vi. promote encounters and permanent
partnerships between men and women working in the cultural field on both
sides, seeking mutual recognition of values, traditions and cultures,
based on human rights and fundamental freedoms;

viii. encourage interactivity among the
various museums in the Mediterranean as permanent cultural activity
centres;

ix. promote encounters among youth
organisations from both sides, using the facilities of the Strasbourg
and Budapest European Youth Centres;

x. give fresh impetus to the Euro-Arab
youth dialogue;

xi. support, as far as possible, the
extension of the Barcelona Process youth programmes to all Council of
Europe countries: the Action Plan on Dialogue between Cultures and
Civilisations, the Tempus programmes, Netd@ys, and EuroMed Youth;

xii. organise a think-tank made up of
scientists and humanists, in order to analyse the ethical implications
of scientific progress;

xiii. instigate ongoing relations with
organisations operating in the South such as Alecso, Isesco, the Arab
League, the Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture and the
Standing Committee for Information and Cultural Affairs with a view to
pragmatic institutionalisation of genuine dialogue between civilisations
and cultures;

xiv. encourage accession by southern
countries to the Council of Europe conventions which are open to
non-member states of the Organisation, especially in the cultural field;

xv. study the preconditions for
granting Council of Europe Observer status to south Mediterranean
countries.